HANOI: A court in Vietnam sentenced to death a former chairman of state -run PetroVietnam on Friday after finding him guilty in a mass trial of 51 officials and bankers accused of graft and mismanagement that led to losses of $69 million. Son maintained his innocence and would appeal against the verdict from the People’s Court of Hanoi, his lawyer, Le Minh Tam, told Reuters. “These harsh sentences are mainly for public effect,” said Carl Thayer, a Vietnam expert at the Australian Defence Force Academy. Investigations into PetroVietnam have seen a Politburo member who was a former PetroVietnam chairman, a vice trade minister sacked from their positions and a former deputy central bank governor prosecuted. The PetroVietnam investigations also grabbed global attention when Germany accused Vietnam of kidnapping former executive Trinh Xuan Thanh in Berlin last month to face trial over a separate case.

Source: New Strait Times September 29, 2017 08:26 UTC